On 28 November 2018, a terrified Mihrigul Tursun, former detainee at China’s “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, gave testimony to United States lawmakers describing how she was brutally tortured by Chinese authorities. According to her testimony the Chinese government used several extreme methods of torture including electrocution, which left her no choice but to “beg them to kill her”. Although a few have said that the testimony was fabricated, it is hard to forget Tursun’s woeful face while she recalls the horror she endured. Her account is one of many that reveal China’s gruesome attack on Uyghurs. 

WHO ARE THE UYGHURS?

Uyghurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that reside in the northwestern province of China, Xinjiang (historically known as East Turkestan). The culture of Uyghurs more closely resembles that of Central Asian countries like Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan than China’s Han culture. However, the majority of Uyghurs reside in Xinjiang. The community is mostly engaged in agricultural activities like growing crops and raising livestock, but recently Muslim minorities like Uyghurs and Kazakhs are being forced to work in factories around the country by the Chinese government. 

The region now known as Xinjiang first came under the control of Beijing during the reign of the Qing dynasty in the 19th century. In 1933 the region witnessed a short-lived independence as the Republic of East Turkestan while China was preoccupied with a horrendous civil war that had started in 1927. However, in 1949, Xinjiang was fully integrated into mainland China after the victory of the Communists and has since been a part of the People's Republic of China. 

A HISTORY OF STRAINED RELATIONS

Although Xinjiang is officially designated as an “autonomous region” like Tibet, in reality the region has little if any autonomy. The government has used several means to suppress any kind of dissent within the region with Uyghur separatists and extremists being their primary targets. 

However, this did not stop several Uyghurs displaying their resentment. In 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, several independent Muslim states were created in Central Asia. This further exacerbated the situation within China and led to a rise in separatist groups calling for an independent Uyghur state. However, they couldn’t accomplish what their Central Asian counterparts did. The harsh and barbarous treatment of Uyghurs by their own government has left many members of the community longing for their homeland, which they still refer to as East Turkestan, to be established as a separate state. 

On the other hand, the Chinese government has used other means to control the region. This includes the government initiative to promote the migration of Han Chinese towards Xinjiang, known as the “Hanification of Xinjiang” or the “Great Leap West”. This led to a significant degree of economic development in the region, but the plight of the Uyghurs has remained the same. With most high-level jobs being allotted to the Han people, the tensions between the communities has drastically risen over the past few decades, with violence erupting in some cases.  

Rising prices accompanied this economic development, which troubled and infuriated Uyghurs as their labour was restricted to menial jobs only. Some Uyghurs took to the streets to protest their economic rights, but they were met with force and brutality as the political machinery in the region is operated by Han Chinese. Ultimately the main beneficiaries of the developments in the region were everybody except the natives of the land. 

The antagonism between Uyghurs and Han has led to events such as the 2009 Urumqi riots, where clashes between the two groups left at least 140 people dead and more than 800 injured. The 2014 Kunming stabbings then left at least 33 people dead and, after which authorities were quick to blame the attack on Muslim separatists without any hard evidence. These incidents are a constant reminder of the strained relationship between the groups. They have also facilitated the government’s initiation of a series of crackdowns on Uyghurs under the disguise of counter-terrorism activities. The authoritative Chinese government restricted the cultural and commercial activities of Uyghurs and in 2014 launched a “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism” campaign, which aimed to identify and execute extremists in order to control and stabilize Xinjiang. These counter-extremism tactics also succeeded in installing fear in the minds of other Uyghurs.

THE PRESENT SITUATION: AUSTERE MEASURES

Today, Xinjiang is a heavily militarised region. The authorities are implementing extensive surveillance techniques like biometric data collection and advanced monitoring cameras to solidify their grip on the turbulent region and specifically on the Uyghurs. The appointment of Chen Quanguo as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) Party Secretary was another move taken to maintain control and discipline in Xinjiang. 

In 2011, Quanguo administered another volatile region, the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), where he successfully built networks of surveillance and introduced drastic policing policies like community based policing. Through his radical steps, Quanguo managed to stabilise Tibet as the authorities desired, but it came at the cost of human rights violations. Quanguo has replicated this strategy in Xinjiang. Quanguo has heavily emphasised generating employment in Xinjiang through securitisation. Between August 2016 and July 2017, he advertised at least 90,000 security positions. In a region where there is high tension among ethnicities and communities, deployment of force only exacerbates the situation. And Uyghurs are at the receiving end of it.

The Chinese authorities have restricted Uyghurs’ freedom to practice their religion. Women are prevented from wearing hijab, men cannot grow beards, and the state has also prohibited some Muslim names. Even the Uyghur officials in Xinjiang are prohibited from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and the state has altered the Quran. In addition to this, traceable numbers are engraved on knives, and sugar sales per household is monitored, to prevent any construction of explosives. The state seems to see every Uyghur as a potential separatist or terrorist, and they are therefore treated in this way. 

The jarring treatment of Uyghurs does not end here. Officials are also keeping the Uyghur population limited through forced abortions and sterilisations. Where they used to be the majority group, now only 40% of nearly 20 million people living in Xinjiang are Uyghurs.

What brought light to China’s atrocious human rights abuses, however, were the “re-education camps”. Around a million Uyghurs are kept at these camps. According to authorities, these camps are “vocational training camps” to reeducate extremists. Their definition of “extremists” is questionable.

With rigorous monitoring of Uyghurs, any abnormal behavior—no matter how trivial—may land the person directly into the camps. Various families have come forward and spoken about the police’s secret abductions of their family members. Several accounts indicate the barbarity that takes place within the camp walls. People are forced to denounce their religion and sing praises of Xi Jinping and the Communist Party. Women survivors have also claimed rape, sterilisations, forced abortions, and even electrocutions inside the camps.  Uyghurs are being tortured and brainwashed, while state media, as usual, stays ignorant. Various members of the international community have condemned China’s actions to curb Uyghur population terming the treatment ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide. 

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF XINJIANG REGION AND THE “BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE”

Xinjiang has always been a region of strategic importance to China. China’s largest region has boundaries with eight countries, namely Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, and Tajikistan. With an area of about 1.6 million square kilometers, roughly four times the size of Germany, Xinjiang is rich in oil and natural gas reserves along with large deposits of minerals like uranium. Moreover, the 1,833 km Central Asia - China Gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang is extremely important to China, as more than half of Turkmenistan's natural gas exports are transported this way. 

The main reason, perhaps, for the Communist Party's determination to gain absolute control over the region is theBelt and Road Initiative (BRI). The multi-trillion-dollar project is China's 21st century version of the historic Silk Route, and aims to enhance global trade between several countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa through an extensive network of rail and road. This is China's grand move to dominate global trade. More than 70 countries have agreed to be a part of this initiative, and several Chinese firms and workers are already moving overseas for construction projects. A significant portion of the BRI runs through the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which is why Xi Jinping's China is sparing no effort in ensuring a firm hand over Xinjiang and its inhabitants—even at the cost of the Uyghurs.

BUYING THE SILENCE OF NATION-STATES

Several countries are heavily dependent on China for not only economic growth but also political support, which is likely behind their silence regarding China’s iniquity. Essentially, China has bought their silence through the BRI. Since countries associated with the initiative are destined to receive gigantic sums of loans to develop infrastructure like roadways and railways, they have preferred to turn a blind eye towards the misery of Uyghurs.

Even Islamic countries that have been vociferous in bringing to light the plight of Rohingya and Palestinians have too stayed silent. Nick Cohen, a columnist for The Observer, writes in his piece “Why do Muslim states stay silent over China's abuse of the Uyghurs?” (The Guardian, 4 July 2020) that Islamic countries are quick to slap punishment in the name of blasphemy—as evident from Iran's death sentence on Salman Rushdie in 1989—but have stayed mute while China strips the religious identity of Uyghur Muslims. For them, trivial acts that constitute freedom of expression become intolerable—such as the Charlie Hebdo cartoons—but they pay no heed to an entire community facing persecution.  

RECOGNIZING INJUSTICE FOR A BETTER TOMORROW 

The world incessantly witnesses human rights abuses. Regimes have tried their best to keep such abuse surreptitious, even as seen recently in India. Yet it is imperative that we, global society, both acknowledge the existence of such gross violations and address them through our active participation in the media and social networking. As for the Uyghurs, they continue to live in fear and affliction. Families have been destroyed, children separated from their parents, and their identity is on the verge of complete destruction. 

Shrey is currently pursuing his Bachelor's in Commerce from Delhi University. He is particularly interested in the fields of geopolitics, public policy and civil liberties with a special focus on advocating the rights of refugees and oppressed minorities through words. Apart from this, He is also fascinated by literature, poetry, and philosophy and tends to write on such subjects.